Atlantic Thread

Hi all, hope this finds you all well and happy, although I know this week seems to have been a bit tough for many people close to me...events, emotions, behaviours....please be gentle with yourself if you're struggling. I've been working frantically to finish off a crochet sculpture, so have had little contemplation time, but I have been thinking about Ireland, and firming up dates and places, and beginning to contact the yarn shops there. Researching ferry companies (which like to change and delete routes year by year to keep sea travellers on their toes I guess), I've had to modify the itinerary a little; my route is much more the West of Ireland now than my original plan along the south coast, and I have a start date- flying from London to Shannon airport on the 10th September, the second day of the new moon, and spending a couple of days acclimatising around Galway before beginning properly on....and at.... Wed 12th: Leenane/ Leenaun: The Connemara Sheep and Woo

Hello all Hoping this finds you well, despite this bitterly cold weather- just when you think how spring seems to be springing, it's another round of warm coats and sneezes...it's the time of year when we long for summer, for beaches and cocktails and warmth on the skin; and while we remember it, we can't quite believe it will ever be possible to walk out the door in shorts and a tshirt again. Many of us fill in our evenings with holiday porn, and turn our dreams into bookings, marking our escape routes into the calendar- a chunk of freedom with a soft centre of excitement. I am no less excited about planning this trip, even though it begins at summer's end. I aim to begin on or as close as possible to the 9th September, the new moon. In many cultures around the world, it is traditionally seen as an auspicious time to begin new projects; perhaps I am merely susceptible to superstition, but I have observed in my own energy levels over the years that it often is the d

Money talks. Or in late stage capitalism, or however future historians come to view our times, money shouts and screams.  And it also tells lies. There always seems to be plenty of money to buy weapons, but not enough to buy medical equipment; a huge amount for business consultants, but not very much for those who clean up after them. We all know that life isn't fair, but the distribution of material wealth, both globally, nationally and in just about every city in the world now is just taking the piss. It hasn't always been this way, and it doesn't have to be this way. I don't believe there has ever been a utopia in this sense; there are many historical examples of slavery all across the world, but since the arrogant and wealthy European elites decided that the rest of the world was theirs to plunder, that their fellow inhabitants were commodities to be bought and sold- and who cares if they live or die- it went to a new level. It became virtuous and clever to make mon